Over nearly eight decades, Louis Stettner (1922-2016) defined a singular
poetic vision in photography, honing a style influenced by both American
street photography and French humanism. Stettner began working in the
1930s, becoming a member of the Photo League in New York and befriending
Lisette Model, Paul Strand, and Weegee. After serving in the U.S. Army
as a combat photographer, he moved to Paris in 1947, where he met the
influential street photographer Brassaï. The following decades were the
most important in his career, as he traveled back and forth between
Paris and New York and found inspiration in that geographical duality.
Published to celebrate a major acquisition of Stettner's prints by the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, this beautiful volume presents
iconic photographs from the entirety of Stettner's career, along with 19
essays about photography written by Stettner himself, originally
published in the iconic magazine Camera 35 from 1971 to 1979, as well
as a transcription of Stettner's fundamental lecture, "Photography:
Style & Reality," delivered at the International Center of Photography
in 2002.